Buono Fights for Voice Against Christie in N.J. Election

New Jersey State Senator Barbara Buono may become the first gubernatorial nominee to not qualify for the maximum in public matching funds, after raising less than half the amount needed. Photographer: Julio Cortez/AP Photo

May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Barbara Buono, the Democrat trying to
oust New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, is so low on funds that
her campaign ads don’t reach voters via television or radio. To
see them, you must go to her website, Facebook or Twitter page.

Buono, a 59-year-old state senator, trails Christie 3-to-1
in cash as she struggles to gain traction against the governor,
a White House contender in 2016. With two weeks until the
primary, she may become the first gubernatorial nominee to not
qualify for the maximum in public matching funds, after raising
less than half the amount needed.

The challenger has been unable to narrow Christie’s edge of
more than 30 percentage points in polling, as more than three-fourths of voters remain unfamiliar with her. The Republican
incumbent, meanwhile, is enjoying high approval ratings after
his response to Hurricane Sandy and drawing record donations in
New Jersey and as far away as California.

“She needs to make a sharper appeal to national Democrats
that she’s the only thing that stands between Christie and
2016,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University
polling institute in West Long Branch. Buono needs to show her
party that “she’s the only thing that can hobble Chris Christie
right now.”

Booker Passes

Christie and all 120 members of the legislature are on the
ballot this November. The governor has raised $6.2 million for
his race through May 2, almost as much as the $6.8 million he
collected in the entire 2009 election cycle. He has already
taken in more than any other New Jersey candidate for governor
who didn’t fund his or her own campaign.

Buono, a lawyer from Metuchen who has been a senator since
2002, became Democratic leaders’ champion after more popular
party members, including Newark Mayor Cory Booker, opted not to
run. Unlike Christie, she is accepting public matching funds for
the primary under a system that provides $2 for every $1 raised
-- but limits her spending to $5.6 million through June.

Through May 14, she has collected about $869,000 in private
donations, which will get her about $1.3 million from the state.
She needs to amass $1.9 million in qualifying donations to
secure the full $3.5 million in public money available for the
primary.

“Many donors are sitting back and saying ‘I have a finite
amount of money to give to candidates, and why would I want to
give it to someone who isn’t going to win,’” said Brigid
Harrison, a professor of law and politics at Montclair State
University.

Barbara Who?

Christie led Buono 58 percent to 26 percent in an April 24
poll of 1,112 registered voters by Quinnipiac University of
Hamden, Connecticut. Two-thirds of the respondents had a
favorable opinion of the governor, including 45 percent of
Democrats. Seventy-eight percent hadn’t heard enough about Buono
to give their opinion of her.

Christie amassed 1,044 donors who gave the $3,800 maximum,
campaign filings show. Buono, in comparison, drew 72. Among them
were Orin Kramer from Montclair, a general partner at New York-based hedge fund Boston Provident who raised more than $500,000
for President Barack Obama in 2012; and James Leitner from
Montclair, founder and president of Wyckoff-based hedge fund
Falcon Management Corp.

Zuck Bucks

The governor’s donors include Mel Karmazin, former chief
executive of Sirius XM Radio Inc., John Catsimatidis, the
billionaire owner of Red Apple Group Inc., Kenneth Langone, the
co-founder of Home Depot Inc.; and Facebook Inc. co-founder Mark
Zuckerberg, who hosted a fundraiser for Christie at his
California home in February.

Republican fundraising in New Jersey has more than tripled
since 2009, when Christie defeated incumbent Democrat Jon
Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. co-chairman,
multimillionaire and major political contributor. With Corzine
out of politics, Democratic fundraising has dropped by more than
half since the last governor’s race, according to the state
Election Law Enforcement Commission.

“Jon Corzine was enormously important to fundraising for
not just his own campaigns, but for folks at every level from
local and county offices to the state level,” Harrison said.

Televised Term

Christie became the first Republican elected governor in
New Jersey since 1997 when he won the 2009 race with 48 percent
of the vote to Corzine’s 45 percent.

Christie’s calls for smaller government and lower taxes
have made him a national Republican figure. His appearances on
television, which include a comic bit on NBC’s “Saturday Night
Live” and interviews about his weight-loss surgery, have also
boosted his fame. The governor turned down requests in 2011 to
run for president, and hasn’t ruled out a 2016 White House bid.

As governor, Christie also has the advantage of starring in
a new $25 million, federally funded advertisement aimed at
helping the Jersey Shore recovery from Sandy. Democrats have
said those ads are being used to bolster his re-election
campaign, which Christie denies.

“I hope what they do is bring people to the Jersey Shore -
- there’s nothing political about that,” he told reporters on
May 17. “I don’t see any advantage, due or undue, to me.”

Keeping Quiet

The Christie campaign has spent more than $2.3 million on
television and radio ads for this election. Buono’s campaign
hasn’t run any.

David Turner, a spokesman for Buono’s campaign, said he
“is not going to discuss strategy.” “We will have enough
resources to be competitive in November,” he said.

In a new Web ad released today, Buono tries to teach voters
how to pronounce her last name, which rhymes with that of New
York Governor Andrew Cuomo -- not with the singer Sonny Bono or
U2 frontman Bono. Buono then rolls her eyes and corrects the
announcer who says her name wrong. The campaign will spend money
to promote the ad on the Internet. Turner declined to comment on
what it would cost.

Booker, a rising Democratic star who chose a possible 2014
U.S. Senate run over a Christie challenge, said the pace of
Buono’s campaign and fundraising will intensify after the
primary. Christie and Buono each face one lesser-known opponent
in June.

The Newark mayor, who has headlined fundraisers and made
stump appearances with Buono, said smaller, out-of-state donors
who oppose Christie’s stances may be good targets for Democrats.
Even gubernatorial races have become national events, Booker
said after appearing with Buono at a May 13 news conference in
Newark on gun violence.

“You’re going to see more and more candidates get traction
because of small donors,” Booker said. “I think she’s going to
have a lot of success with that because she has such a high-profile opponent.”

Passive Support

Buono has said Christie’s views are out of step with
mainstream New Jersey and that some of his decisions, including
vetoing higher taxes on millionaires, are designed to play to a
national Republican audience.

Emily’s List, a Washington political-action committee that
raises money for female Democrats who support abortion rights,
has vowed to help Buono unseat Christie, who opposes the
practice. The group, which is soliciting donations for Buono on
its website, has not yet contributed to her campaign, according
to the recent election filings.

A big chunk of spending on this election will come not from
the candidates, but from outside groups that don’t have to
identify donors, said Jeff Brindle, executive director of the
Election Law Enforcement Commission. Such groups, which are
prohibited from coordinating efforts directly with the
campaigns, are on track to spend a record $30 million by
November on the governor and legislative races, he said.

The outside group One New Jersey has so far spent $1.8
million on anti-Christie ads. The group is organized under the
tax code’s Section 501(c)(4), which lets it avoid paying taxes
on contributions and doesn’t require it to disclose donors.
Joshua Henne, a spokesman for the group, declined to say who is
funding its efforts. Henne is a former Buono spokesman.

“This is going to be a year in which independent spending
explodes,” Brindle said in an interview. “It will be the big
story of this election.”